Exploring Nature: Winter Sunsets

Welcome to Exploring Nature, an illustrated blog series that (re)discovers the natural world through art, science, and observation.

Illustration by Erica Sloniker,
Marketing and Visual Communications Specialist

Transcript:

Winter Sunsets at Robert Y. Pratt Preserve

Friday 12-19-23

The days are dark this time of year, so thank goodness it’s peak sunset season! I observed a stunner today on my Whidbey Island hike.

Wanting to understand why sunsets are at their best in the winter, I found out a few things…

  1. Winter sun rays have a longer path through the atmosphere due to the low sun angle. More blue lights gets filtered out. More red and orange light makes it through. Sunsets are ablaze!

  2. Because the sun is lower on the horizon, the time it takes the sun to set is longer.

  3. Dryer air scatters less light helping our eyes see purer color.

  4. Clouds are more likely and reflect more light.

Now that the sun has set, there’s a chill in the air. Winter sunsets end early. Time to head out, find a cozy dinner spot, and settle in.

More like this
Exploring Nature: Spring Frogs
Exploring Nature: Spring Frogs

Nestled in the cliffs in Moses Coulee is an import desert water sources that every springs attracts thousands of Pacific Tree frogs. I came to Whisper Lake for a night concert. It was anything but quiet. The chorus of frogs was soothing, calming—the quintessential sound of spring.

Exploring Nature: Sandy Beaches
Exploring Nature: Sandy Beaches

While the Puget Sound may be known for its rocky beaches, come explore why the beach is sandy at The Nature Conservancy in Washington’s Foulweather Bluff Preserve.

Exploring Nature: Winter Sunsets
Exploring Nature: Winter Sunsets

Welcome to Exploring Nature, an illustrated blog series that (re)discovers the natural world through art, science, and observation.

Native American Heritage Month
Native American Heritage Month

This month, Tribal Nations across the United States are celebrating National Native American Heritage Month, honoring their sovereignty, traditions, languages and stories. We acknowledge and elevate this month, and every month, alongside Native American, Alaska Native, Native Hawaiian, and affiliated Island communities. Indigenous Peoples are the original caretakers of nature—their longstanding relationship with the land has culminated in extensive knowledge and practices, which are vital to successful, reciprocal conservation outcomes. 

Exploring Nature: Lichen Palettes
Exploring Nature: Lichen Palettes

Welcome to Exploring Nature, an illustrated blog series that (re)discovers the natural world through art, science, and observation.

Fueled by Balance: Meet Sami Schinnell
Fueled by Balance: Meet Sami Schinnell

After decades of implementing suppression policies that approached fire with fear, wildland firefighters in the United States, like Schinnell, find themselves seeking a more balanced relationship between Earth and fire.

The Story of the Soil: Environmental DNA Results at Ellsworth Creek Preserve
The Story of the Soil: Environmental DNA Results at Ellsworth Creek Preserve

In the depths of the Ellsworth Creek Preserve forest we found over 1000 different species, across 10 phylum and scientific kingdoms. From Annelids (worms) to Basidiomycetes (fungus) from Arthropods (bees) to Chordates (humans)! Multiple species have either lurked or lived in the soils of Ellsworth.

Every Tree Helps
Every Tree Helps

Through our GRIT work, we are finding that temperature declines linearly with tree canopy cover. Because this relationship is linear, it suggests that there is no threshold tree cover required to affect air temperature; instead, every bit of additional tree canopy seems to help reduce local air temperature on hot days.

When Restoration Gets Explosive
When Restoration Gets Explosive

Using dynamite for restoration may seem like a paradox, but at TNC’s Port Susan Bay Preserve, we explored dynamite as a way to create estuary channels. The inspiration behind this method was to see if explosives could reduce the ecological impact of channel creation in comparison to using heavy machinery.

The Practice and Perspective of Stewardship
The Practice and Perspective of Stewardship

After more than 60 years of conservation in Washington, TNC has transformed our understanding and perspective of what it means to steward the lands and waters that people depend on.

Moses Coulee from Burn Scar to Sagebrush Recovery
Moses Coulee from Burn Scar to Sagebrush Recovery

The 2020 Pearl Hill Fire burned nearly 33,000 acres of sagebrush in Eastern Washington including most of TNC’s Moses Coulee Preserve, but stewardship staff and volunteers are making remarkable headway on sagebrush recovery.

Dr. Tiara Moore Redefines Belonging in Marine Science
Dr. Tiara Moore Redefines Belonging in Marine Science

Dr. Tiara Moore, founder of Black in Marine Science bravely reveals stories from her life in this profile. Discover what motivates BIMS’ ambitious sustainability plan to secure an equitable future for marine science.

A Fellowship for Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change
A Fellowship for Nature-Based Solutions to Climate Change

This trip was part of an internal TNC fellowship with the Natural Climate Solutions Prototyping Network.  Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) provide climate change mitigation via conservation, restoration, and sustainable management of forests, wetlands, grasslands, and agricultural lands in ways that are consistent with biodiversity conservation and human rights.

Two-minute Takeaway: What is Carbon Sequestration?
Two-minute Takeaway: What is Carbon Sequestration?

Climate change is here and is manifesting into some of the most iconic changes our generation has seen. We need to transform our global economy and reduce our emissions immediately. Thankfully, we have a natural solution that can help us – trees.

Scientists in Action
Scientists in Action

The Nature Conservancy’s scientific capacity is infused with flexibility and vigor by University of Washington undergraduate and graduate students and post-graduate researchers.

FOLLOW US

GET UPDATES

INSTAGRAMS

View fullsize The thing about today is... It's Monday! No other day could get the week off to such a great start. ― Anthony T. Hincks . . . #northwestnature 📸by @naturegirlangie
View fullsize Hi! I'm a rough-skinned newt. I may looks small and fragile, but I have an unusual defense mechanism. My skin can produce a powerful neurotoxin called tetrodotoxin. The toxin prevents nerve cells from firing correctly, which ultimately causes paralys
View fullsize Hi! I'm a banana slug. I use my slime to breathe, to move and to attract water. In fact my slime absorbs 100 times its volume in water. It helps me move along the ground and even climb up trees. My slime is a liquid crystal that acts both like a lubr
View fullsize I like the mountains because they make me feel small,' Jeff says. 'They help me sort out what's important in life.' ― Mark Obmascik, "Halfway to Heaven: My White-knuckled--and Knuckleheaded--Quest for the Rocky Mountain High" . . . #northwe
View fullsize Thousands of tired, nerve-shaken, over-civilized people are beginning to find out that going to the mountains is going home; that wildness is a necessity ― John Muir, "Our National Parks" . . . #northwestnature 📸 by @nonay_movingsoul
View fullsize It is advisable to look from the tide pool to the stars and then back to the tide pool.☄ — John Steinbeck . . . #northwestnature 📸 by @seattlenorthcountry
View fullsize Dwell on the beauty of life. Watch the stars, and see yourself running with them. ― Marcus Aurelius . . . #northwestnature 📸 by @browneyedsmile808
View fullsize Here in the corner attic of America, two hours’ drive from a rain forest, a desert, a foreign country, an empty island, a hidden fjord, a raging river, a glacier, and a volcano is a place where the inhabitants sense they can do no better, nor d
View fullsize We are lucky that mountains exist; we are lucky that we have such beautiful sanctuaries on earth where we can enjoy utter silence and heavenly rise! ― Mehmet Murat ildan . . . #northwestnature 📸 by @kylekotajarvi
View fullsize A little tranquil lake is more significant to my life than any big city in the world. ― Munia Khan . . . #northwestnature 📸 by @nowandbren
View fullsize
View fullsize Pika says, Happy Friday! . . The pika doesn't look it, but it is related to rabbits. The relationship to rabbits and hares comes out in its nickname. The pika is known for sending up a shrill whistle and diving into a hiding place when it spots a pre
View fullsize This is what we see when we look up at Rainier, the beauty, the horror, the awe the unbelievability of size that confirms our own consequence on this earth. We look at the mountain, like god and can imagine nothing larger. Its incompressible life-spa
View fullsize @ross.eckert found the place where summer meets winter. . . . #northwestnature 📸 by @ross.eckert
View fullsize Life is a blank canvas, and you need to throw all the paint on it you can. ― Danny Kaye . . . #northwestnature 📸 by @coryzanker
View fullsize To go out with the setting sun on an empty beach is to truly embrace your solitude. — Jeanne Moreau . . . #northwestnature 📸 by @frankleeruggles

TWEETS